Trekking in Austria's Hohe Tauern. Allan Hartley

are wet make sure you leave as much surplus water and dirt off your boots outside the hut. Many of the huts are spotlessly clean and for the benefits of all guests should be allowed to remain that way.

      The OeAV does not provide visitors with hut shoes, so you need to take your own to wander around the hut in as boots upstairs are strictly forbidden (verboten).

      Should the hut be full you may have to take residence in the winterraum, which is usually reserved for ski mountaineers and those visiting when the hut is closed. Most huts in the Hohe Tauern are open from early June to the end of September. The winterraum is generally an annexe to the hut and may double as a storeroom or shelter for animals, as at the Kursinger Hut. While the winterraum can be quite cosy remember to keep your gear off the floor, as it is usually the home of more permanent four-pawed residents.

      Should the hut be beyond full you will be provided with a mattress for notlager which, roughly translated, means ‘sleeping with the furniture’, be it on the floor, in the corridors, on tables, on benches or simply anywhere you can lie down.

      Only on very rare occasions will you be asked to move on by the huttenwirt but only when bed space has been secured at an adjacent hut and only when there is sufficient daylight for you to reach your destination. In the Hohe Tauern all of this is an unusual scenario, and can lead to some cosy if somewhat noisy situations.

      View from the Warnsdorfer Hut – the Birnlucken Pass (2667m) is the obvious gap on the left skyline and the Reichen Spitze the dominant peak on the right (Reichen Rucksack Route, Stage 3)

      At the hut you will also require a sheet sleeping bag (schlafsack) for use with the blankets and bedding which the hut provides. This is to minimise the amount of washing required and reduce water pollution. This is a compulsory requirement and if you do not have one the huttenwirt will rent you one.

      Elsewhere in the hut you will find male and female washrooms and toilets. Most of these facilities in the Hohe Tauern are good but a number are at best described as basic but adequate. Most huts also have a drying room, or trockenraum, which you should find close to the front door. Likewise most huts have a small shop where visitors can purchase basic provisions such as chocolate, biscuits and cakes.

      Thereafter the heart and soul of the hut is the gaste stube or dining room. Here you will find all manner of activities going on from groups planning their next day, people celebrating a climb or a birthday or people just chatting. The atmosphere is best described by the German word gemutlichkeit which means homely or friendly and is something that is fostered and cherished throughout the whole of Austria.

      At the end of your stay you should remember to make your bed and fold your blankets, to look around to make sure you’ve left nothing behind and to search out the huttenwirt and thank them for a pleasant stay. You should then fill in the hut book to record your stay and to indicate where you are going next.

      The cost of accommodation is published annually and available on the Austrian Alpine Club website – www.alpenverein.at. Click on the Hütten/Wege link and choose Tarifordnung. (At the time of going to press dormitory accommodation in a Category I hut was €10 and in a Category III hut €16.)

      Reservations

      For small groups of three or four people it is not necessary to make a reservation at many of the huts. However, if you are a group of six or more, it is strongly recommended that you make contact with the hut using the address provided in the hut directory at the back of this guidebook, and sending a prepaid stamped addressed envelope, before you go. It is also essential to book if you intend to climb the Gross Glockner and Gross Venediger as these huts are always busy.

      Most of the huts in the Hohe Tauern now have websites and email addresses, which makes it easier than ever to get in touch with the hut to make reservations. Again, see the Hut Directory for details.

      It is worth noting that members are only allowed three consecutive nights at any one hut, although this is not strictly enforced.

Meals and Menus

      All huts have some sort of restaurant service to cover the three daily meals: breakfast (fruehstuck), lunch (mittagessen) and dinner (abendessen).

      Breakfast is served from about 06:00hrs to approximately 07:30hrs. Thereafter no meals are available until lunchtime as the hut staff are busy with general housekeeping. Breakfast is seen as the worst value for money but unless you are carrying your own provisions you will have little choice other than to accept it.

      Lunchtime usually takes place from 12:00hrs to 14:00hrs but varies depending on the hut. It is also possible to purchase simple meals like soup, kase brot and apfelstrudl at most of the huts throughout the afternoon.

      Dinner is the main meal of the day and is generally served from 18:00hrs to 19:30hrs. Apart from meals listed on the menu, bergsteigeressen will be available along with other meals. Literally translated the word means ‘mountain climbers’ food’ and in reality that is what it is, even if it is pot luck what you get! However it is a low-priced meal and must contain a minimum of 500 calories. The meal generally comprises spaghetti or pasta, potatoes, some meat or sausage, sometimes a fried egg or maybe a dumpling. There is no hard and fast rule other than that it is relatively inexpensive and that there is usually a lot of it!

      Comfortable accommodation at the Sankt Poltener Hut – note the mountain rescue donations tin on the table (Venediger Rucksack Route, Stage 6)

      Generally the procedure for ordering meals is that you first organise a table. There is no formality, but sometimes, when mountaineering training courses are being run, groups of tables may be marked private or reserved (privat reservierung). Having sat down one of the waitresses (frauline) will take your order. Alternatively, you may have to go to the counter or kitchen (kuche) to order, or there may be a sign saying selbsbedienungs, which means self-service.

      The general rule for paying for food and drink is to pay an accumulative bill. Keep notes of what you eat and drink to aid checking at the time of paying. Bills can become considerable when staying at a hut for more than a couple of nights.

      Because of the excellent service the huts provide it is obvious that very little of one’s own food needs to be carried. However, you may want to take your own dry rations such as tea, coffee, bread and cheese. This permits you to make your own snacks and by borrowing cups and purchasing eine litre teewasser you can brew up for a little cost. The only facility not provided for is self-catering, which does seem a little pointless when all the meals are reasonably priced.

      Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, beer, wine and schnapps are all available at the huts. Breakfast (fruehstuck) is served between 06:00hrs and 07:30hrs and comprises two or three slices of bread, a portion of butter, jam and cheese and tea or coffee. If you don’t finish it, take it with you! You pay for it all. Lunch (mittagessen) and dinner (abendessen) are served with a selection of vegetables or salad and there should be vegetarian (vegetarische) options. Drinks are served in quarter (viertel) or half (halb) litres, or large (gross) or small (klein), and may be hot (heiss) or cold (kalt). See the glossary (Appendix B) for some useful words and phrases when reading menus or ordering food and drink.

      As a guideline for working out a budget, typical meal price lists can be obtained from the UK Section of the Austrian Alpine Club. (At the time of going to press, their website – www.aacuk.org.uk – was estimating the cost of dinner in a hut at between €7 and €16, depending on what you opt for.) Alternatively a budget cost can be worked out on the basis of prices charged in most British pubs for a decent bar meal plus drinks. (The unit of currency in Austria is the Euro, as in Germany and Italy.)